rself alone she drew forth the
head she had concealed beneath the pillow and placed it on a round
table in front of her. For a long time she gazed at the sunken eyes,
the gaping mouth, and the long black tresses which rolled over the
table on both sides. The lady smoothed the raven-black tresses with
her soft hand, and passed her fingers right across the noble features
without a shudder at their icy coldness.

There she sat an hour long opposite the dead head; and beside her Ali
Tepelenti, the terror of the whole region, lay prone in a deep,
motionless slumber. It was a strange sight, this young girl alone
there between these two horrors. She had resolved to quit Ali and set
the Greek damsel free; but what she meant to do after that she herself
could not have said.

In an hour's time the Greek damsel returned. She came so softly that
nobody could have heard her; even Eminah did not perceive her till the
damsel stood before the severed head and uttered a cry of terror. Only
for an instant, only for the duration of a lightning-flash did this
cry last; the damsel stifled it at once, and if it awoke any one in
the palace he must have fancied he was dreaming or had dreamed it, and
would go on sleeping again. Then the damsel, in an agony of speechless
grief, bent over the head of her betrothed, and her tears flowed in
streams, though not a word escaped her lips.

At last Eminah grasped the girl's hand and bade her make haste. So she
dried her tears, and after placing the severed head in front of that
of the sleeping pasha so that they confronted each other, and cutting
off one of the locks from its temples, she covered the cold eyes with
bitter, burning kisses, and then, taking up her things, rapidly
followed Eminah through the long suite of rooms.

A few minutes later they were in the torture-chamber. It was quite
empty; the blood stains had been washed away, there was nothing to
recall the horrors of the night before.

They opened the trap-door through which the dead bodies were wont to
be cast. At the bottom of the deep black void there was a roaring
sound as if the lake were in a commotion. No doubt a tempest was
raging outside. How were these girls to escape by way of the
subterranean stream? Perhaps some of the headless corpses were also
swimming down yonder amidst the foaming waves. Would those who
ventured down into those depths ever see the light of day again? But
to them it was all one. Better to perish in the